Quote Originally Posted by DanandClavs View Post
They don't make things easy for us Filipina lovers...!

You cannot book an appointment for the seminar and have to just show up early and hope you get a place.. Only 12 places per week..! This leaves me in the position of not being able to book my flight home until the seminar is complete and we have that sticker..

My wife is a bit worried about a discrepancy in her name. She thinks that she needs to change her name with the DFO before we fly.. I'm hoping this is not the case. We applied for the spousal visa in her old name so her passport and visa are in the old name. i told her to just do the seminar in her old name and book the flight in her old name.. Am i correct here ?

Is it easy to convert her surname once we are in the UK ? Do we have to send off for a new passport ?

She will fly into Cebu to take the seminar on Friday and we will meet in Manila on Saturday. Is this the final thing we need to get to be able to fly ? Once we have the CFO stamp we can just leave ? I don't wanna miss anything and get a shock !

Thanks Guys
My wife did the same. Retained her maiden name in her passport throughout. Without any problems. You just need all your paperwork including marriage certificate and any divorce papers.

My wifes maiden name remained in her passport during the CFO process. No problem. And she flew here under those circumstances.

Now that my wife is in the UK her surname still remains in her passport so to deal with that she keeps a copy of the marriage certificate inside it. This suffices. We will change her name in her passport when she is ready for renewal in 2013. It works well.

To minimise wasted time with the CFO, get there early to ensure a slot. And take all documentation with you known to man. I also made sure that I was on hand at home here to take any text queries from my wife. It worked well as there were a couple. She texted me and I texted her back the answer. A couple of her mates didn't take their hubbies divorce papers with them and had to go back for another visit.